Topic: Investor

Billionaire Carl Icahn, who has used his financial clout to influence boardroom decisions at publicly traded companies, announced on Thursday that he no longer owns shares in Apple, just days after the company announced its first revenue decline in over a decade.

Apple's research and development spending spiked at an all time high of more than $2.5 billion during the second quarter of 2016, with the unusually large $600 million year-over-year jump owing primarily to new hires and related expenses, Apple said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Analysts on Wall Street were pushing optimism after Apple's disappointing fiscal 2016 second quarter earnings, saying they expect that the company will continue to innovate and will return to growth over the next year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday reiterated a positive outlook on Greater China despite suffering a year-over-year revenue contraction during the second quarter of 2016, saying the region is "a lot more stable" than some perceive.

Services revenue was perhaps one of the few comforts for Apple in its second-quarter financial results shared on Tuesday, growing 20 percent year-over-year to $5.99 billion, setting an all-time record for the company.

Calling it a "busy and challenging quarter," Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook gave commentary and fielded questions on his company's fiscal 2016 second quarter. Notes of interest from the call with investors and the media follow.

In announcing its first quarterly revenue decline in 13 years, Apple on Tuesday said it will infuse another $50 billion into an ongoing capital return program, a move that comes with a $35 billion boost to the company's share repurchase initiative.

Apple's second fiscal quarter of 2016 officially marks the first time ever that iPhone sales saw a year-over-year decline, as the company shipped 51.2 million handsets on its way to $50.6 billion in total sales.

With Apple set to report its first-ever year-over-year decline in iPhone sales this afternoon, analysts continue to look forward to the anticipated "iPhone 7" launch in hopes that it will re-stimulate growth.

While the world waits to see just how many iPhones, iPads and Macs Apple sold in the March quarter, a report on the top 150 firms in California's Silicon Valley shows that Apple earned more than 40 percent of the region's total profits in 2015, and its revenues grew 2.5x as fast as its peers year over year.

Apple -- the world's most profitable public company -- is a day away from releasing its March quarter earnings. That means that while the company itself is in an official quiet period, everyone else is free to publish false and misleading information about it. Let's take a look at some of the worst fallacies.

Investment firm Piper Jaffray continues to believe that Apple's services business is vastly undervalued by Wall Street, as the company reiterated this week that services should be a larger focus for investors.

Pulling data from Apple's December 2015 earnings report, investment bank Piper Jaffray estimates gross margins on the company's rarely discussed services business could be above 60 percent. And that figure is expected to grow.

Cowen and Company upgraded its outlook on AAPL stock to "outperform" on Wednesday with a $135 price target, telling investors it believes Apple will return to growth with this fall's "iPhone 7" and beyond.

Apple this week issued a $3.5 billion, U.S. dollar-denominated bond to pay for its capital return program, outstanding debt, acquisitions and other operational expenses, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

While larger iPhones have driven sales among switchers, a new 4-inch iPhone is likely to drive upgrades among existing Apple users, to the tune of up to 15 million units per year, one analyst believes.

Analysts on Wall Street expect the new 4-inch "iPhone SE" may be priced at $450, taking the place of the entry-level iPhone 5s. But if Apple were to keep the iPhone 5s around at a cheaper price, it could allow the company to tap into new markets.